


Before Happily Ever After

by BananasFoster1



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Action & Romance, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Canon Compliant, Canon Continuation, Depressed Lance (Voltron), Developing Relationship, Gay Disaster Shiro (Voltron), General Disaster Keith (Voltron), Hurt Lance (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Keith tries to help, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, Multi, Pining Keith (Voltron), Post-Canon, Post-Season/Series 08 Finale, Recovery, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2018-12-19
Packaged: 2019-09-20 07:09:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17018097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BananasFoster1/pseuds/BananasFoster1
Summary: With Honerva defeated and the Universe rebuilding the Paladins of Voltron find themselves scattered throughout the universe. As they also try to rebuild themselves after the devastating loss of Allura they find that not everyone's definition of peace in the universe is the same.A continuation of the Voltron universe because there's a story to be told between the beginning and happily ever after.





	1. Prologue: Mail Day

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I'm super excited to start this story but to start I feel like I need to say that I didn't hate season 8. I actually quite enjoyed it. For me shipping is about taking these amazing characters and this well fleshed out universe and adding my own spin on to it and with Voltron I feel like they left it so open ended that there's a lot of opportunity for cannon continuation stories which can take the characters in so many different directions.
> 
> This here will be my cannon continuation, picking up a few months after the one year anniversary honoring Allura's sacrifice. My goal is to treat all characters with respect, yes there will be Klance in this story but at no point will I be dissing Allura or Lance's feelings for her. There will also be plot other than just Keith and Lance but you'll all see more of that later.
> 
> That being said I hope that everyone enjoys the first chapter of my new story! Though you should think of this more as a prologue than a first chapter, the chapters from here on out will be longer.

Mail day had become a bittersweet experience for Keith. With the mail came more requests for aid, for supplies, more complaints about which kind of hinges were used on the Marmora’s new housing projects, more work. But if he was lucky Mail Day also brought with it letters from home. 

He liked gallivanting across the galaxy aboard the Myrmidon, the Blade of Marmora’s newest flagship. They brought aid, education, resources, wherever it was needed but sometimes it made him feel unmoored, traveling from star system to star system, never in the same place for more than a few months at a time. Being on the outskirts of the Coalition was harder than being on Earth, the center of peace. Out there people were still starving, still afraid and with fear came the people trying to take advantage of the situation and seize control. While the Coalition may be the growing force of peace throughout the universe, out here there were other, much more dangerous, factions fighting for dominance.

Receiving letters from home reminded him that even through the trials he faced, he had a place to go back to, a family. They’ve made it this far, he wasn’t going to let political extremism stop the spread of peace now.

Shiro’s letters came the most frequently, at first they mostly contained updates about the coalition’s progress and notes on the diplomatic meetings helots recently attended, with suggestions about where the reinvented Blade of Marmora could go next. But more recently his letters were filled with laments of a much more personal nature. Shiro, while he was the natural leader and visionary the universe needed during its rebuild, was a walking disaster when it came to flirting. Apparently he was sure that the ‘tan god of a communications officer’ would never notice him as anything more than his Captain.

Keith for his part wished he could offer Shiro more help but was clueless as to how. Probably the only person in the universe worse at flirting than Shiro was Keith. Though he did at least suspect that said communications officer got a bit too much enjoyment out of calling Shiro _Sir_ for him to entirely oblivious to Shiro's interest.

After Shiro, Hunk’s letters were the most likely to grace his desk. Unsurprising to everyone Hunk had followed his passion and talent for cooking and was using it to bring people together. His letters were often about new recipes he’d tried or the different sort of cuisine he’d been introduced to throughout his travels. Keith had actually tried to make a few of the recipes Hunk sent over. It never ended well and had him banned from the ship’s kitchen. 

Pidge’s letters were more infrequent but that was because she preferred video chatting to writing. The only time she actually wrote was when she had schematics or calculations to send over as well. Keith was still clueless about what most of her scientific ramblings meant but he knew by now that if he just nodded along she’d eventually sum up the plan in layman’s terms. What he did know was that the Holt family’s innovations were revolutionizing Earth and the Galaxy. Even the Myrmidon’s gravitational and engine systems were based in Holt Tech.

Coran wrote regularly, eager to explain how the rebuild of the Altean people was coming along. Less frequently but still occurring were the letters from the MFE fighter pilots, Matt, Acxa and other rebels and garrison members he’d known. There was a time where Keith considered himself a lone wolf, destined to be an orphan, a recluse. Now though he knew better, he knew the strength that came from friends and family and how easy it was to blur the lines between the two. He wouldn’t be where he was today, the universe wouldn’t be where it was today, if he hadn’t embraced those bonds.

Even so, the one letter that he didn’t get was from Lance. 

That is, until today.

Keith stared down at the communications pad stunned, blinking and rubbing eyes as if he wasn’t sure it was real. It had been months since he saw Lance at the dinner honoring Allura; he’d been worried then but didn’t say anything around the others. Instead he wrote Lance a letter and gave it to him before they left. 

At first he told himself that Lance must just be busy on the farm and that was the reason for no response but as the days turned into weeks and weeks into months he came to the realization that he just wasn’t going to get a response. He kicked himself, sure that the new silence between them was because he’d said the wrong thing in his letter. He’d never been good with words after all.

Keith sat down at the desk in his office aboard the Myrmidon. He set aside all of the letters addressed to the Blade of Marmora’s Humanitarian Operations and Education Service, or as Pidge liked to call it Keith’s HOES, in favor of reading the letter he’d given up on ever receiving. 

_Keith,_  
I’m sorry it took so long for me to get back to you. I wasn’t sure what to say. I kept on telling myself I’d write but the words just didn’t come and the days began to blur together until suddenly one day I realized months had passed us by.  
The farm is doing well, thanks for asking. It’s been good to be around my family again and Pidge’s mom visits a lot. She brings different crops for us to work with. According to her the breakthroughs we’re making on our farm will help feed countless refugees all around the universe so that’s cool.  
As for what you asked, now that it’s winter on earth I’d be glad to visit. I’ll dock at the Myrmidon in one earth week. I hope this letter gets to you before then.  
\- Lance 

While he was thrilled to finally get a response, the letter in itself felt wrong to Keith somehow. The words were Lance’s, he could practically hear his voice as he read the letter, but it lacked the fire he’d come to associate with him. It was the same off feeling he got at the reunion to honor Allura, sort of like Lance was dulled and separated from them by a wall of fog.

When he reached the end of the letter he stood quickly enough to knock his chair over, scrolling back to the top he groaned when he saw that the letter was sent six earth days ago. Lance was set to arrive tomorrow and he was nowhere near prepared.


	2. Nothing Truer Than Lies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again. Here is chapter 2. It's still early on in the story but don't worry, I do plan on bringing in the other paladins at some point but for now it's just our favorite duo.  
> And with that here we go!

Kol was Keith’s second in command aboard the Myrmidon. He was half Galran with lilac skin but no big feline like ears or fur; instead he had a head of dark hair and deep blue eyes. While he was about Keith’s age Kol was much taller and broader than he was. He had been in the Blade with Kolivan for a long time, practically since he could hold a knife according to the stories, though he hadn’t crossed paths with Keith until after the war ended. Since then he'd been a loyal officer and even a friend.

“If you don’t stop with the cleaning the crew is going to revolt.” Kol said dryly, lips cocked in a familiar half smile. One of the reasons they got along so well was because Keith felt a kinship with Kol’s dry, sarcastic humor. 

“If all it takes is a few hours of cleaning for the Blade to turn on me then I’ve been a pretty miserable Emissary.” Keith smirked, using the title given to him as leader of the Blade’s Humanitarian efforts. He turned down the role of leader on Daibazaal and while he was technically the captain of the Myrmidon he didn’t like the title, always looking over his shoulder for Shiro when someone called for Captain. Emissary was an awkward medium, it was a title of respect that made the Galra and other species comfortable and gave Keith an air of authority in his work but at the same time it wasn’t too reverent either. 

“You said it. Not me.” Kol smirked and Keith let out a mock gasp of horror.

“That’s mutiny.” Keith pointed at him but dropped his hand when Jiya, a fuchsia skinned Cortelian came over. She was one of his best communications officers and a fair carpenter as well, Keith had stolen her for his crew from the rebels, Matt had been pretty annoyed with him for that.

“Your guest has arrived in hanger bay six.” Jiya said to him respectfully.

Keith felt his stomach clench, the tangle of nerves that have been building all day tightening and twisting inside of him. He didn’t trust himself not to say something that made things worse for Lance. 

“Good luck.” Kol smirked as if he saw much more than Keith did. Keith felt like hitting him with one of the nearby brooms.

“Thanks” Keith said instead, irrevocably proud of himself for his restraint. He nodded to both of them before making his way through the ship’s walkways to hanger bay six. Opening the doors he stopped in his tracks at the sight in front of him.

It seemed he wasn’t the first to find Lance. The group of children the crew had recently rescued from a besieged planet had stumbled upon him first and sat in an eager circle around him, listening to his story.

Keith recognized this one, about the Paladin’s adventures in the space mall. Maybe Lance chose it because it was more child appropriate than some of their other adventures but Keith also couldn’t help but notice that it was one of their few adventures that didn’t prominently feature Allura. Seeing as on earth Lance was the champion of Allura’s memory it seemed like an odd choice for him to make.

Lance caught sight of Keith entering into the hanger bay and nodded at him in greeting. Not wanting to interrupt story time Keith leaned beside the door, arms crossed over his chest and eyes closed as he listened to Lance tell the story, barely managing to hold back a snort when Lance made scrounging through a wishing fountain for change sound like an epic treasure hunt. 

Lance was good at stories, he realized. He put all the right emphasis on the right words, dramatically paused when appropriate to build anticipation and even without looking Keith could almost feel the movement of his gestures. Keith always knew Lance had a flair for the dramatic but for the first time he contemplated how closely aligned a skill in story telling could be to a skill in lying.

When Lance finally finished the story Keith stepped forward and ushered the children back to their guardians.

“Nice story.” Keith said, feeling the his lips quirk in amusement “If only it had actually happened that way.”

Lance scoffed “What? That is _exactly_ what happened.” He said, giving a smile that almost looked right but Keith had a strange feeling that it was only skin deep.

“Whatever. How was the trip here?” Keith asked, giving his shoulder a clap in greeting. It was the sort of greeting he often got from Shiro, friendly, supportive, the same sentiments he wanted to convey to Lance. This visit would be a lot easier if he could somehow manage to express support without words. Keith knew what he was good at, fighting he could manage, repairing a ship and building a house he was also surprisingly adept at but he wasn’t very good when it came to words and stringing them together to form coherent sentences. 

“It was fine. Quiet. Uneventful so that was nice for a change.” Lance sighed a bit

“Farm life too busy for you? Here I thought you’d be bored not piloting and being far away from your adoring fans that were always chasing after you.” Keith smirked; unfortunately ever since the defeat of Honerva all of the Paladins had gained a somewhat terrifying fan base. Keith shuddered at how many times he’d been asked to sign people’s body parts when he was still on the 'victory tour,' an effort not long after Honerva's defeat to capitalize on the Paladin's fame and gain new members to the Coalition. 

“Oh my Lancelovers still have a way of finding me even on the farm. My brother catches a at least a few a week trespassing in the fields.” Lance gave a haughty smile but again it struck Keith as fake. He wondered if this upbeat mood was a story Lance was telling to Keith or to himself. “It’s the life of a hero I suppose. Not that you’d know, I don’t think anyone could be a fan of that mullet.” Lance’s smile turned into a challenging smirk. 

He could almost see the gears working in Lance’s head as if he were in a battle, joking about fans wasn’t working to deflect Keith’s apparently obvious concern, maybe their pastime of baiting each other would do the trick. 

“I don’t want fans.” Keith said immediately, taking the bait he knew Lance was dangling in front of him because he wasn’t yet sure how to address Lance’s false cheerfulness.

“Yeah. We guessed as much when you hopped on the first ship to the outlands after the remembrance dinner.” Lance said and this time Keith wondered if he really heard the layer of bitterness under Lance’s teasing tone or if he’d just imagined it. 

Again, not knowing how to react if the bitterness was truly there he told himself he was just hearing things. “Well I am much more likely to get shot at then kissed out here.” he pointed out

Lance let out a huff of a laugh and for the first time Keith felt like it was genuine. He felt a little bit of pride at that, in making Lance laugh again for real. “You are literally the only person who’d rather be shot at than kissed.”

Keith gave a shrug at that, not having another response “Would you like to see where you’ll be sleeping?”

“Sure.” Lance nodded, flinging the bag he had abandoned at his feet during story time back over his shoulder. The action seemed to remind him about the kids he spoke to earlier. “Hey. I didn’t know this was a generational ship.” He said but it sounded more like a question so Keith treated it as one.

“It’s not. We’re just transporting some refugees right now. One of the strongest factions out here, a Syndicate of criminals, annexed their home planet to use for mining. The process caused poisonous vapors to accumulate in the air. We rescued who we could and we’re taking them to a new home. Once we get there we’ll help them settle down, build a village, find food sources, establish a governance system.” Keith nodded as he led Lance out of the hanger bay and through the ship’s corridors back to the habitat section. 

“But what if the people who destroyed their home planet come after them again?” Lance asked immediately but Keith shook his head 

“They don’t care about the inhabitants. They just wanted the resources underneath the planet’s surface. We’re going to establish the refugees in a less disputed area.” Keith sighed; frustrated that that was all they could do and Lance seemed to be of the same persuasion. 

“Moving them away from the problem doesn’t erase the problem!” He waved his arms in a very Lance like way. His movements reflected off of the ship’s metallic bulkheads and was warped by the curve of the metal. It was almost funny that the most fervent and characteristic expression Keith had seen since Lance’s arrival would be reflected in such a distorted way. 

“I know.” Keith responded simply, feeling his own anger at the situation amplified by Lance’s righteous indignation. “But the Blade’s mission isn’t combat anymore. I’ve sent additional defense requests to the Coalition and all I can do is wait and continue on with the Blade’s new humanitarian charter.”

Lance gave him a look like he had grown a third head. Keith got the uncomfortable feeling that he had been looking at Lance much the same way since he arrived. Maybe they didn’t know each other as well as he thought anymore. Since Allura’s death almost eighteen earth months ago they hadn’t spent much time together aside from ceremonial, diplomatic and reunion dinners and even then they always had the other Paladins around at least, if not a whole crowd. They hadn’t been alone together since before the war’s end and peace’s beginning. Not since some comforting moments after staff meetings on the Atlas or quiet sunsets on earth. A lot had happened that could change them in that time, the soft curl of Altean marks on Lance’s cheeks a visual symbol of all they’d lost and gained in such a short period of time. 

“Here” Keith stopped abruptly, Lance almost running into him. “This will be your quarters while you’re here.” He said, showing Lance the code to open the door. 

“Nice. I didn’t think I’d get my own room.” Lance walked in and looked around. It of course wasn’t large, the Myrmidon having limited space, most of the crew was in shared quarters; only high-ranking officers had private rooms. 

“It’s my number one’s room actually.” He said, Kol leaving behind a few trinkets on the room’s small desk that he insisted would make the place feel more ‘homey.’ “He’s going to stay with me while you’re here.”

“Oh man, I don’t want to put anyone out.” Lance said and Keith shook his head.

“It’s fine. He stays over with me all the time.” Keith said, with so many refugees and such limited space they often used Kol’s room to house important dignitaries or regional leaders and since as Captain he had the largest room it only made sense that Kol would bunk with him.

But by the way Lance's eyebrows nearly reached his hairline Keith didn’t think Lance took that statement the way he meant it though he wasn’t sure how else it could be interpreted.

“Well that’s cool. Good for you man!” Lance laughed awkwardly and patted his shoulder hard enough to make Keith stumble a bit. 

“Good for-?” He started but the question of cut off by Lance letting out an exaggerated yawn. 

“Man that ride here was exhausting. Do you mind if I take a nap before dinner?” 

Keith blinked, wondering what exactly he’d said to make Lance go haywire but instead of asking he just nodded. “Uh Yeah, sure. Do you want me to come get you for dinner?”

“What no? I’m sure I’ll find my way.” Lance nodded and Keith stepped out of the room. 

“Well if you need anything-“

“I’m great thanks!” Lance said with a too big to be real smile. The door slid shut between them, leaving Keith staring at the metal with a bewildered expression, wondering what he’d gotten himself into.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There it was, I hoped you enjoyed it. I have a soft spot for socially awkward Keith because I also am as socially awkward as a turnip so it's something I can relate to. And again please kudos and leave reviews with praise, suggestions, complaints or just a funny story about your cat. Thanks!

**Author's Note:**

> Well there it was! I know it wasn't much but I just wanted to kind of set the stage for what's to come. Please comment and kudos, I'm excited to hear from you and what you're hoping to see (or not see) in this story!


End file.
